Holy Cow!

My blog has just passed 200,000 hits!

Thank you all for following me. I have websites linking from all over the world, from Italy to France to Japan, some in languages I don’t even recognize. I hope you enjoy my knitting and crochet patterns and you’ll keep coming back for more. In honor of achieving this milestone, I’m hosting a giveaway here: Leave a comment or link to my blog by November 10, and I will hold a drawing the next day. The winner will receive a free download of ALL MY PAID DOG SWEATER PATTERNS. I’ll announce the winner here on November 11, so if you win please contact me and let me know where to email your patterns.

Good luck, and thank you for visiting!

In the Berry Patch

Raspberry Fool

              

On Ravelry last month, the Malabrigo Junkies group had a Holiday Stockpile One-skein Design contest, so I looked in my stash to see what inspired me.

The clear, bright pink of this lovely Malabrigo colorway, Geranio, took me back to a day in the summer of 1969, when my college friends and I picked buckets full of fresh raspberries on a farm in Pennsylvania. That evening, I found a recipe for “Raspberry Fool,” a deep-dish cobbler, and we all devoured it while watching the men walk on the moon and marveling at how far our country had come.

Consulted Donna Kooler‘s indispensible Encyclopedia of Crochet for some sort of berry stitch, and the result is my first crocheted dog sweater pattern, Raspberry Fool, modeled here by the always-willing, always-chilly Willie.

  My boy does love to be in pictures, and he loves his new Mmmmmm sweater.  Try it ~ the pattern’s on my Free Patterns page (my gift to you dog-loving crocheters or crochet-loving dog parents), and it’s quick and easy, a great place to start if you’re ready to attempt your first crochet project.  And you could do a lot worse than Donna Kooler’s great book for instructions on how to wield the addictive little hook.

I have another puppy pattern, this one knit, that I will try to get up this week.  I say try because I am having a total knee replacement on Thursday, and there are way too many things to do between now and then. 

I hope to keep you updated throughout my recuperation.  This is my second knee, and I’m not looking forward to spending the holidays limping and learning to walk again.  My last surgery was on almost the exact same date two years ago, so I’ve done it all before.  This time I’ll be getting a custom knee joint created from a special MRI of my knee.  This is new technology, using the OtisKnee (TM), and it will be interesting to see how it compares with my other, one-size-fits-all knee.

If I don’t get that pattern posted before Thursday, see you on the other side …

Anthropologie & Urban Outfitters ‘@home’ in Savannah

My friend Liz Demos, the creative talent behind one of Savannah’s most wonderful shops, @home, has confirmed in her blog that Urban Outfitters has signed a lease for more than 11,000 square feet of retail space in downtown Savannah. Now, won’t that just satisfy my shopping jones?  Poor me ~ I got a daughter whose idea of a cute outfit is her school uniform and who thinks Urban Outfitters makes clothes for “weird” people.  So I dream on their website of all the trendy get-ups I would put her in … if I could.  Now I can actually go into the store and dream.

Meanwhile, Anthropologie has already hit Savannah … without telling me! Last night I was browsing through the new catalog when something hit me. There was something ~ what was it? ~ very familiar about those pictures. Then I saw the names of some of the clothing … Forsyth Park Cardigan, Wormsloe Sweater Coat, Savannah Blouse, Monterey Stripe Surplice, Broughton Blouse. Now, if you’ve visited Savannah, those names don’t have to be explained, but if you haven’t, they’re names of prominent sites in Savannah that have been borrowed to go with the backgrounds of the pictures. If Anthropologie would let me download a photo I would, but they’ve got that site locked up tight, so just go thumb through the online catalog and you can get a glimpse of this wonderful, beautiful place I love live.  Where this afternoon, by the way, at the crack of February, it was 67.4 degrees outside my kitchen window and the magnolias were budding on my neighbor’s tree.

So I’ve been messing with some felting and hand-sewing this week and have come up with a little pet-lover’s tutorial ~ a way of making your own cute beaded or otherwise embellished and felted pet collars.  Check out the free tutorial in pdf download on a separate page.

               

    

Those “Compliments”

WHAT NOT TO HEAR

I just walked through the TV room when somebody on some show like “What Not To Wear” was telling his victim that “That sort of dress makes you look like you have a waist.”  Reminds me of the compliment I got from my mother by phone yesterday when I sent her a few pictures of myself in my newly completed “Flicca” coat (designed by the remarkable Anna Bell of My Fashionable Life).

“I love your coat ~ it makes you look like you’ve lost weight.” 
“Well, I haven’t.” 
“Then you should wear it all the time because it makes you look like you have.”

I know she meant well, but, well, I’ve long since come to terms with my weight, something I guess my mom will never do, and I’m not trying to lose ~ or even look like I have.  Anyway, here’s the coat.  What do you think?

          

Now, I love this coat.  I made it with RYC Soft Tweed in slate blue, and it didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it would.  Despite the yarn’s bulk (3 sts to the inch), it’s amazingly lightweight, so wearing the coat is a dream, even in Savannah, which hardly has any winter at all.

 This is my other recent creation, “Dinah” from Rowan 42, made in Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca Silk and GGH Soft Kid instead of the called for Rowan Wool Cotton and Kidsilk Haze.

This is my absolute favorite garment I’ve ever made.  I was drawn to the beautiful, completely coincidental matching of the two yarns made by two different companies, and when I found out the gauges on both worked with the pattern, it was mine!  I just loved working on this sweater ~ both yarns are so nice to stitch with.  Then I set about to find a ribbon to match ~ good luck.  I picked the silk satin one from M&J Trim and ordered it, sure it wouldn’t even be close to the color it was on my monitor.  As you can see, it’s a perfect match.  I was thrilled.

SOME ETSY FAVORITES

Seller Treehouse28‘s wonderful custom clothing, priced right and so perfect for my life, in comfy knits.

    

I am crrrrazy for this over-the-top crocheted dress by Pink Willow Designs. It makes me think of all the wonderful times I’ve had in the islands, gets me in the mood for spring and summer like nothing else I’ve seen lately, and ~ to be honest ~ sets the wheels turning for how I can turn out a knockoff for myself (sorry, Pink Willow).

And these fabulous Valentines from the frantic meerkat. I bought the first for my daughter (who just finished studying evolution vs. intelligent design, etc.) and the second for my husband, who is just wonderful and will get it.

 

AND NOW …

I’m off to JoAnn’s to pick up a few items to complete something I’ll share with you next time.